Intensification of Contradictions in the Empire: Election in the USA and Its Impacts

In his last interview (streamed live on November 6th, 2020), Leo Panitch spoke with the International Relations and Marxism Network (RIMA), in partnership with Chutando a Escada Podcast and PUC-Rio, about the escalation of contradictions in the empire, the US elections and their impact on global capitalism.

The recent election in the USA has profound impacts, both within American society, and for its role in global capitalism. How to understand the broader and deeper social processes underway in American society? What will be the challenges for sustaining the American ‘informal empire’ in view of the electoral result? How to understand its impacts on the current hegemonic dispute with China? What will be its effects on the global extreme right and on Brazil under Bolsonaro in particular? On these and other issues, we spoke with Leo Panitch, professor emeritus at York University (Canada) and co-author (with Sam Gindin) of the book The Making of Global Capitalism. The Political Economy of American Empire.

• Part 1: Polarization and social crisis in the United States
• Part 2: The relevance of the concept of informal empire today
• Part 3: The role of cosmopolitanism and nationalism in the United States
• Part 4: The rivalry between the United States and China

Moderated by Ana Garcia (IRI/PUC-Rio), with discussants Filipe Mendonça (IERI/UFU) and Debora Gaspar (RI/UFRRJ).

The interview, recorded on November 6, 2020, is available in full at youtube.com.